"FACINGFACES 2002 - 04" SELECTED POETRY

CROSSHAIRS

Targets of beautiful towering grace
Prey of the malformed minds
In the perilous mutations of species

Women are your children
They are your Mothers
They are your Sisters
And your Lovers

Annihilation stalks
Left to defend themselves
Alone, while they bury their dead

The horror in Ciudad Juarez
Tries to summon the paid protectors
But the incantation is mute

From the primitive throat
Would be torn the last call of defense
Had the protectors terminated the threats

Were humans one with the wild
They'd not be defiled
For the pack would eliminate the insurgents

Where are the warriors
With honor so vast
When will they answer the broken cries?

The assassin has no skill
Needs no scope to target kill
Because the protectors silence
Has sanctioned their intent

Abomination
Assassination
Civilization
Extermination

Who gave you consent
To devalue their lives?
Scavenge your own

Although the fear hangs in the wind
While the predators nap
And replenish their cruel desires

These women now maintain the pack
And they will rise and growl
You have forfeited your rights


JOURNAL FOR MY SISTERS


8/4/83 I called you Sweet Bill.

12/14/83 I've been shaking for three days.
My back has 7 bruises on it and it hurts to wear a bra.
One arm has a silver dollar sized bruise.My chest has a blue spot.
My left knee is dark purple and it hurts to go up and down stairs.
That same thigh is swollen in all different colors.
My forehead has a goose egg on it.
My entire head is bumpy and it hurts to brush my hair.
The ring on my little finger is almost flat and that finger is purple.
The neighbors came in to our apartment and pulled me into their's.

6/3/84 You bruised my face and I don't trust you at all.
7/23/84 Our one year anniversary. I called you "The Best"

8/27/84 He rocked me around the house again. That's all folks, never
again.
10/10/84 We watched the Burning Bed together and you cheered Farrah
Fawcett when she killed her abuser.

11/1/84 Bill beat me up 10/28-LAST TIME EVER!!! Freedom Day Oct 29th
10/8/85 I am still so worried things will be the same as it was before
and I'll die for it.

11/11/85 I let him answer the phone for the first time since we got back
together. It was my ex-husband calling. Then Billy tried to commit
suicide after he heard me laughing on the phone.

12/2/85 My dreams have become increasingly violent and vivid.
12/22/85 Have you ever held death in the palms of your hands?

1/16/86 I came home to find Billy breaking into the lock on the front
door of my apartment building.
2/24/86 They found probably cause at the hearing today. Sometimes I wish
I could bring my innocence back.

4/29/86 The life I believe in will be severely shaken and tested.
7/30/86 Never hung my head so low, I lost in court today. I never felt
so relieved, closing the worst chapter in my life.

5/5/2002 Blood in my hair reminds me of you. The last time I saw you I
yelled from the middle of the train tracks that I would kill you if you
came near me again. You laughed darkness into the daylight.



Sandy Strunk
USA
copyright 2002